Recently, an increasing number of elderly patients are being cared for in hospitals, extended care facilities and nursing homes. Many of these patients are bedridden or spend most of their time in bed. Decubitus ulcers are commonly seen in bedridden, elderly and/or debilitated patients, and the heel area is the most common place on a patient for tissue to break down.
Presently available heel protectors have not proven to offer sufficient protection to the sensitive areas. Cloth heel protectors, with insulated padding, are among the prior attempts to deal with this problem. However, such a protector does not adequately distribute forces imparted to the foot over more of the foot area to thereby decrease the pressure on the sensitive areas.
Also, the presently available heel protectors have failed to provide a means for being adequately fastened to the foot and ankle. A common occurrence is for the heel protectors to slide upwards along the lower leg. Also, the presently available means to fasten these heel protectors to the foot and ankle have been known to irritate the skin of the patient and/or require considerable effort to put on and remove.